If Ranting Is What Works

If you’re a romance and/or erotica author with a Twitter feed that you’ve looked at more than once over the past couple of days then you’re likely to have seen people discussing some author moves that seem – when looked at with a skeptical eye and then passing that skeptical eye over to the Amazon rankings – a little suspect. The words ‘publicity stunt’ got tossed around and it’s hard to disagree with those voices. I won’t mention the authors here; I don’t know them, I’d never heard of them before this weekend, I’ve never read their books and I have no idea if the books are good, the voices are valid or what their motivations are. But for a new-ish author with a book she’s really proud of that’s doing alright but hardly burning it up the Kindle charts, it’s hard not to feel defeated.

I’d taken to Twitter and Facebook to say, can’t we just write good books, put them out there and hope for the best? But really, that answer is naïve. Every author knows that you have to do some degree of promotion and, unless you’re in the upper echelons of writer fame, that promotion falls almost entirely on the author’s own shoulders.

So no, an author cannot just write her book and hope for the best. She must promote it. But the question is how? How to promote? And it seems that at least two writers this weekend, either intentionally or not, have stumbled upon a good way. Put a rant up on a blog… and then watch the fallout ensue and your sales rise.

It is all well and good for me to stick my nose in the air, call myself an artiste and say I do it all for the sake of art and don’t care about the money. But first, I don’t know that I’d deign to call my work art. That seems really egotistical. I don’t know if it’s art, I just know I like it, that I strove to make it the best it could be and hoped others would find enjoyment from reading it. Second – and not to get too Les Mis on you – there are indeed children at home and the children have got to be fed. I’m not above a little hype if it’s gonna mean the hours I spent on my book are going to pay off.

But the truth is, I just can’t bring myself to fake something. And I’m not bashing those who did, if that was indeed their angle. It’s brilliance in its own way, if annoying to the rest of us. I am just really enjoying living my life as truthfully as possible. So I can’t.

Here’s my truth. I wrote a book. It’s called For Her Pleasure. It’s as dirty and depraved and funny and smutty and well edited and well written as I could possibly make it. I had a blast writing it. It was a total joy.

Should you buy it now because it will be gone tomorrow? No. Do I secretly hate you if you like it? Certainly not, quite the opposite.

Is this post going to stir things up in the blogosphere out there and boost my sales?? Probably not. But I thought I’d jump on the bandwagon… and give it a shot.